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Google Grants $3.7 Million to Civic Innovation and Open Data Projects

Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, announced it's funding two new tech projects on Wednesday, one to encourage civic innovation and the other to open government data.

The larger of the two grants, a $2.1 million gift, was given to the Sunlight Foundation. The Foundation will use the money to grow its local programming, particularly to create consistant standards for open data in all U.S. cities.

Another $1.6 million was given to mySociety, a UK charity that builds open source codes for local authorities, governments and corporations. The grant money will be used to accelerate building new civic apps.

Matthew Stepka, VP of Google.org, told Mashable that these two grants are an extension of Google.org's mission to create and spread technology solutions that can make a positive impact and combat major challenges.

"Both Sunlight Foundation and mySociety have proven track records in using the Internet to open up government data and deliver tools to civic developers," Stepka says. "Their past work shows their success, and the new projects point to their ambition. They're both doing work that's foundational to the sector — the projects being funded by Google.org are connecting other players in the space and building a network that can allow for more new efforts to flourish."

Stepka notes that Google was already working on civic engagement and open data projects — such as its online election tools, Civic Information API and Kenya Elections Hub — prior to distributing these grants.

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